Swollen Knuckles
From where I sit...
And I have had those opportunities,
To sit and observe from various places.
In different environments.
And conversed with an assortment,
Of those with both frowns and smiles on their faces.
I've come to notice,
The ones rehabilitated and returning from their time,
Spent incarcerated in prisons.
And so prepared to share with an uplifting.
Those same folks,
Who objected to those who sat with patience,
And had wisdom.
Only now perceive themselves,
To have acquired advice...
With a willingness to share it.
And finding themselves dismissed,
By the very ones they attempted to con.
As if to sit behind bars is the only way to learn lessons.
'OH...
I do understand where you are and where you've been.
And those frustrations you have with newfound concerns.
Oh...
I am not above thinking there is nothing I can learn.
We all make choices.
And my choice was to receive my lessons not sitting in a prison.
And since you've been rehabilitated,
You have more opportunities than I do.
My knuckles have been swollen from knocking on doors for years.
And here you are...
With a Bible and job offers.'
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Related quotes
Grown Folks Continue to Roll Eyeballs
No steps should one take backward...
Unless they are in some game.
It's okay if something is to be learned.
If something from hindsight will change.
But some aren't prepared to learn at all.
Unless they qualify who teaches...
And why they should learn.
Leaving lessons missed,
With minds left twisted to drift.
And arguments over who has learned...
Anything at all.
Opportunities become stagnant...
And grown folks continue to roll eyeballs.
As if there was something in their heads connecting.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Uz
In the land of Uz,
You were captured and released later!
For many were they who came to beg for you,
And you now have many lessons to learn.
Learn how to live harmoniously and,
Learn how to share in the name of love;
For marriage is like school,
And it needs patience to understand it.
Extroverts are anger-prone and,
Introverts are fear-prone:
But the rule of life is to learn always!
And i am from the land of Uz to teach you all.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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What Lessons Can I Promise To Learn?
I shy away from advising with advice to give,
To anyone.
I have too many bruises,
From knocking my head up against walls.
I've sat in on too many job interviews,
Bored by those who questioned...
Where would I'd like to be and do,
In years to come I have yet to live.
Or commit myself to a loyalty...
When I know none of it comes to me,
From no one as a guarantee promised to give.
I do my best until I can not do that anymore.
And if someone else is not doing that to achieve,
Who believe to me they can be compared?
What lessons can I promise to learn?
If those in positions to teach are incompetent.
I shy away from advising with advice to give,
To anyone.
I have too many bruises,
From knocking my head up against walls.
What could I say to anyone,
Thinking something I will say will make it for them easy?
Especially when I am inclined to say,
Fall down to your knees and count the cracks on the street.
And repeat it until the bleeding isn't noticed?
How many seeking to be impressed,
Will address my own experiences?
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Cell Sitters
None of them know a thing about themselves.
Other than what has been for them created.
Other than what has been to them fed, lied and gossiped.
I wonder how many of the more than two million incarcerated,
Believed they were raised...
To do well in school and to get good grades?
I wonder how many were cussed and ridiculed,
By ignorant guardians?
Who themselves thought they were blessed to be fools?
So many of them do.
These cell sitters,
Kept locked and confined...
To be rehabilitated!
And losing trust in a system caring less about their fates.
Mothers and fathers of children right now...
Who are being prepared,
For jail bait!
These cell sitters,
Kept locked and confined...
To be rehabilitated!
And losing trust in a system caring less about their fates.
Mothers and fathers of children right now...
Who are being prepared,
For jail bait!
By those blinded whiners sitting on their behinds,
Undisciplined and complaining...
About what's not being done for them.
And they do nothing at all but sit on stoops,
In fantasized stupors!
These cell sitters,
Kept locked and confined...
To be rehabilitated!
And losing trust in a system caring less about their fates.
Mothers and fathers of children right now...
Who are being prepared,
For jail bait!
None of them know a thing about themselves.
Other than what has been for them created.
Other than what has been to them fed, lied and gossiped.
I wonder how many of the more than two million incarcerated,
Believed they were raised...
To do well in school and to get good grades?
I wonder how many were cussed and ridiculed,
By ignorant guardians?
Who themselves thought they were blessed to be fools?
So many of them do.
And there are more than just a few,
Cell sitters spewing about 'nuthin'!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Freedom Through Wisdom
Today 'freedom' is a misunderstood word,
There are many ways to translate its worth.
Many thinks they are free, but we can question that,
Each must walk on the yellow brick road to understand the bet.
In this life we are all walking on or beside the yellow brick road,
Since yellow means wisdom, we learn lessons one by one in a special mode
Sometimes we learn, sometimes just stagnate on some way,
Fighting with others, take smoke, drugs, alcohol or as he/she may.
However, if we find the right faith in the Power of the Universe,
By arriving at the end of the yellow road we can transverse.
We'll reborn without dying finding what we always suppressed,
We can love life, forever be free and blessed.
Fearless to face our problems and call them all 'good',
We'll know all are lessons; we have to solve them as we could,
Eventually we understand all was necessary for us to grow,
Become better, stronger, and wiser by overcoming each woe.
We'll find that nobody can force us to understand,
Each of us has to arrive to the answer without force or bend,
Then we can continue walking on the yellow brick road,
In peace, true happiness, learn lessons and hope each will be a light load.
poem by LaSoaphia QuXazs
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Received Without Sacrifice
Years spent in learning a craft.
Or the multiple tasks attached to applying...
That which is associated in the creation of it.
Benefits with the experience of observation.
And plenty of lessons through frustrations learned.
Pieces believed by others to be detached,
Are actually there in place.
And many are not aware of that.
One foot directed,
Does not mean the other does not sometimes drag.
Many have their eyes on a prize.
And become discouraged,
By the assortment of different routes...
Avenues, valleys and streams,
One motivated takes...
To put together a dream.
Sometimes with mistakes and false starts.
Even painful screams to see created,
What one eventually achieves.
Is believed by others...
To be as easy as a wish delivered.
Without shedding blood, sweat and lots of tears!
Only those giving their time,
Knows what that giving of time means to give...
Throughout the years.
Some believe gifts given,
Are received without sacrifice.
And they are the ones procrastinating...
Sitting to seek a more sweetened advice.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Lessons Of Love
(s. garrett/g. ballard)
See the children play
Listen to the things they say
One-on-one to one another
Theyre just having fun
Finding out it can be done
They dont seperate by cover
Ooh, young hearts
Facing to feel it so naturally
And the flower grows from the seed and
Chorus:
Practice makes perfect and we tryin enough
And were bound to be learning
The lessons of love
Coz were never too old and never too young
To be teaching each other the lessons of love
Got some work to do
Theres so much we can improve
Piece by piece we come together, yeah
In the neighborhood
I know we can make it good
But weve got to make it better
Oh woh oh, inside each of us has a romelody
But weve got to find our harmony
Practice makes perfect and we tryin rnough
And weve got to remember
The lessons of love
Coz were never too old and never too young
To be teaching each other the lessons of love
Bridge:
Imagine how this world could be
If all of us would live in peace
Nothing good comes easily
Together starts with you and me
Yeah, oh yeah, aha
Lessons of love
Practice makes perfect and we tryin enough
And were bound to be learning
The lessons of love
Coz were never too old and never too young
To be teaching each other
Practice makes perfect and we tryin enough
And weve got to remember
The lessons of love
Coz were never too old and never too young
To be teaching each other the lessons of love
Practice makes perfect, try it enough
(oh, never too young, aha)
And weve got to be learning
The lessons of love (lessons of love)
And were never too old and never too young
(to learn the lessons of love)
To be teaching each other
The lessons of love
Oh, never too old, to learn the lessons of love
Oh yeah, lessons of love
song performed by by Lea Salonga
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Quick to Boost Children With Wit
I once sought acceptance.
As a child growing in an environment.
Living amongst those I was told to respect.
With words untold...
I also grew to respect.
On their terms.
Since the same turf we shared.
Back then and during those times I yearned,
To learn!
But as I grew to understand from hard knocks.
Like throwing rocks at children.
And finding them and their parents...
Coming to my folks,
With not a smile on their faces!
Not a one looking...
As if they came to tell a series of jokes.
My yearnings to learn,
Took me, at times, away from my neighborhood.
Sometimes alone!
And for me this was good.
I soon came to understand...
Some folks didn't have a high degree of curiosity.
In fact...
Many couldn't read.
And those kids who could...
Were kinda ostracized from the 'hood'.
And growing up in a huge family...
I kept my thirst for learning,
As a secret kept within me!
But today as an aging man...
I know how important it is,
To be who I am.
And I am quick to boost children with wit.
Encouraging them to be inquisitive.
And observe how minds empty of thought...
Will have their hands out,
With nothing in them to share or give!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Willingness to Give
It is not that I have lack of concern.
And I am aware it appears I have no empathy!
To prove you are wrong,
I have given those opportunities to others!
I recognized I had too much.
It broke my heart to share at first...
And perhaps that is what you now notice?
The willingness to give that part of me away!
However...
Don't worry!
Somehow I will manage to go on.
That was the most difficult thing I've ever done!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The Hard Way Every Time
The Hard Way Every Time
Written by - Jim Croce
Yeah, I've had my share of broken dreams
And more than a couple of falls
And in chasin' what I thought were moonbeams
I have run into a couple of walls
But in looking back at the places I've been
The changes that I've left behind
I just look at myself to find
I've learned the hard way every time
'Cause I've had my share of good intentions
And I've made my share of mistakes
And I've learned at times it's best to bend
'Cause if you don't well those are the breaks
Should have listened to all the things I was told
But I was young and too proud at the time
Now I look at myself to find
I learn the hard way ev'ry time
But in looking back at the lessons I've learned
And the mountains I wanted to climb
I just look at myself to find
I've learned the hard way ev'ry time
'Cause I've had my share of broken dreams
And more than a couple of falls
And in chasin' what I thought were moonbeams
I have run into a couple of walls
But in looking back at the faces I've been
I would sure be the first one to say
When I look at myself today
Wouldn'ta done it any other way
song performed by by Jim Croce
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My goal was to play drums, but my father made me take piano lessons. He told me I needed to learn to read music first, so I took lessons for six years. I thank God that he made me take those lessons, because it taught me a tremendous amount.
quote by Brian Austin Green
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I 'Use' to Fetch to Catch Havoc
I 'use' to...
Fetch to catch havoc.
Like a trained pet taught,
To stretch obediently for patience.
You know...
The kind that teaches those lessons to learn,
And comprehend.
Better than the one,
Providing the instructions given...
With a required testing done at the end.
'You do what I say!
Or face the consequences of your ways.'
I 'use' to...
Be the one to get upset.
Whenever I noticed 'something' incorrect...
Being thrown to me to accept.
Without explanation that was direct.
'Young man?
Do you understand what I am saying? '
I 'use' to...
Be driven to anger!
When I knew what was handled,
Could have been more effective for me to get...
To the best of my expectations.
Well...
Today I have been cured.
With a chilling out that has matured...
That impatience I had with exposed incompetence.
And those frustrations that once had me in a rage.
'Don't look at me like I'm the one crazy! '
Today...
The peace inside me has been saved.
With an acknowledgement that I must 'first'...
Forgive myself.
Before another becomes amused by my outbursts.
And I now recognize those folks who wish to be entertained.
'Are you trying to test me? '
I 'use' to...
But my patience today is more contained.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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A Biblical Learning Bug
What you may ask
are my most treasured
valuable possessions?
Obtained authenticated
after an astute search
lifetime as keen collector.
Almost everything I possess
of true exceptional value was found
in proven morality contained
within passage lessons in the Bible.
Judgement was eventually affirmed
with experience own tested belief
supplemented with wide research
knowledge my own keen sustained
education instigated driven insight
to perceive to understand to know.
Motivation I know I know so little
I therefore watch listen time learn
incentive knowing that I know little
upon each unique occasion I listen.
I listen quietly and learn each
individual life lesson anew
in this way I am open to truth
other perceptions of reality
wisdom change where I may
honour gift creation each day.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Learn
when broken
learn
when happy
learn
when bored
learn
when you float and does not know what to do
learn just the same
when filled with idealism
learn
when fed with what you cannot swallow
learn again
when the times get rough and you want to kill yourself
learn, learn, learn
you still have many things to learn
faces of life
bodies of life
learn, learn, learn everything
do not surrender
for in truth, you do not do what you only want
you will also do what you are told to do
no questions asked
or you will be left out
or you will be not a part of the picture
this life
learn, learn, learn, always learn
do not surrender
live, learn, live, learn
you will soon do all that others will tell you
learn, learn and learn again
and sooner you will have learned everything
and then do what you want to do
with firm conviction
you know now what is right
and that is what you will do,
now without even being told
you have become yourself
but still learn, learn, and learn again
because
you might be wrong,
try thinking some more, learn
relearn, learn, learn, learn, forevermore....
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way. The way we learn those lessons is not to deny the feelings but to find the meanings underlying them.
quote by Stanley Lindquist
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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As I Was Told
As I was told,
When I was not to old
About wisdom in many thoughts.
Always to look both ways,
Never from home do I stray
And always, release what I have caught.
But then I got older
Once again much bolder
And my parents gave me more advice.
Never anyone do I judge
Try never to hold a grudge
And always forgive, at least twice.
Then when they talked about money
And though, I thought it was funny
But never loan it too family and or friends.
As if I do make that mistake
That worry alone I must take
So never do I borrow, or do I lend.
Now when it was my time to teach
All though my son said preach
The lessons that I was taught.
In this world that he does travel
I don't want his world to unravel
From the things that he seek or sought.
But then one lesson I did learn
From which I had been burned
One that kept me in emotional danger.
So to my son this I will say
Work hard and be righteous everyday
And for work, always hire a stranger.
So there are lessons to be learned
To keep you from being burnt
When you walk down life's bumpy road.
Some will be given by your mother
And some given from many others,
But learn them all, as I have been told.
Randy L. McClave
poem by Randy McClave
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Lessons In Life
what could I
with wisdom
and hindsight
possibly tell
newborn young about
lessons in life
i know
what it is
to be young
steady and glowing
but you
do not know
what it is
to be old and aging
reflecting in
warm twilight
of years
preparing
for birth
through death
it is through
joy and pain
that we learn
our lessons
in this life
of soul growth
poem by Terence George Craddock
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The More I learn About Nature
The more I learn about Nature the less I realize I know
About how creatures live in wild state, about how plants and grasses grow
About how flowers close in the evening and open to the morning light
We learn every day from Nature and we learn from what others write.
The more I learn about Nature the more I come to realize
That Nature has a billion lessons each day for us a new surprise
How some trees in Spring get leaves and blossoms and how other trees are evergreen
In Nature there are many lessons and many wonders to be seen.
The more I learn about Nature the less I know I know or so 'twould seem
In Autumn the salmon leaves the ocean to lay her eggs in Inland stream
And her offspring to breed to the stream return and years go by with little change
And ways of Nature never simple and ways of Nature can be strange.
The more I learn about Nature the more self conscious I become
that I must not be clever person in many ways I seem quite dumb
We ought to learn from things around us but I've not learnt much at all
when mother took us from the cradle before we walked we had to crawl
The more I learn about Nature the more and more I seem to see
That Nature can be very complex and far too big a thing for me
And Nature has a billion lessons and the more I learn the less I know I know
About how creatures live in wild state and about how plants and grasses grow.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Uncomprehending the Healing Aspects of Listening
Starting all over again to make things better,
Will do...
What?
Make things better?
And for who?
The very same people who allowed destruction?
Those responsible for the creation of conflict?
People refuse to identify themselves,
As the culprits!
Or deny they hand picked their own enemies.
To refer to them as terrorists.
Who began the outsourcing of jobs?
To send them away,
At the expense of cheaper labor.
Whose products were deemed inferior made?
So other products would be savored.
Who began the marketing of decadence?
To find money easier to be had and spent!
Who stood by to watch unruly children?
As disrespect was ushered in...
With a greeding of deceit,
Making a mockery of discipline!
And the rise of racism is on their own land.
The affects of this,
They themselves began.
What is it they wish to do?
Make things better?
And for who?
Aren't these the same people who made it clear...
Their way of life was much endeared.
Aren't these the same people,
Who had values and standards...
Better than those they now say they fear?
What is it they wish to do?
Make things better?
And for who?
A self examination has of yet for them to begin.
This should be prioritized as a revelation for them.
But they remain in denial.
Uncomprehending the healing aspects of listening.
A mindset rehabilitated,
Is what people need.
A mindset rehabilitated,
Is what people need.
A mindset rehabilitated,
Is what people need.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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One Never Knows What Fate Holds
Why isn't my life filled with chaos?
I attempted to gain membership.
I was refused.
There was a willingness on my part,
To participate too!
I wanted to be like them.
You know,
The curious type?
Well...
That led to suspicion.
My activities were dismissed.
So I was ostracized years ago,
For being a nonconformist.
Which 'then' was not true at all!
I wanted to fit in!
With the giving of my time,
And everything to prove...
I was not different.
I came with information to share.
But as luck would have it...
I was denied.
One never knows,
What fate holds!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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